A&M Travels to OSU Saturday

COLLEGE STATION-Texas
A&M returns to the hardwood on Saturday afternoon when the Aggies (13-14,
4-11) take on Oklahoma State (13-15, 6-9) at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
Tipoff is set for 1:05 p.m. and the game will air nationally on ESPN2.

GAME 28:

Texas A&M AGGIES (13-14, 4-11) at Oklahoma State COWBOYS (13-15,
6-9)

Saturday, February 25, 2012
• 1:05 PM CT • TV:
ESPN2 HD

Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
• Stillwater, Oklahoma

Media Coverage

TELEVISION: ESPN2 HD

Mark Neely,
Play-by-Play

Fran Fraschilla,
Commentary

RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network

Dave South,
Play-by-Play

Al Pulliam,
Commentary

Local: WTAW-AM 1620

Satellite Radio:
Sirius 117/XM 190 (OSU feed)

LIVE AUDIO/STATS: aggieathletics.com

Snapshot: Texas
A&M

Record: 13-14, 4-11 Big 12

Ranking: NR

Streak: Lost 2

Last 5 / Last 10: 1-4 / 3-7

on the Road: 2-8

Last Game: lost to (#4) Kansas (H), 66-58 (Wed.)

Head Coach: Billy Kennedy (SE Louisiana '86)

Record: 224-193 (14th year)

at Texas A&M: 13-14 (first year)

vs. OSU: 1-2

A&M Probable
Starters (based on previous game)

No. Name Pos.
Ht. Wt.
Cl. PPG RPG
APG GP / Min

10 David Loubeau F
6-8 234 Sr.
10.8 4.5 0.6
27 / 26.6

13 Jordan Green G
6-4 181 Fr.
3.9 2.0 1.3
27 / 17.7

22 Khris
Middleton F 6-7
217 Jr. 12.5
5.1 2.1 15 / 26.4

31 Elston Turner G
6-5 211 Jr.
14.1 3.7 2.4
27 / 33.3

35 Ray Turner F
6-9 232 Jr.
8.9 5.5 0.4b
27 / 22.1

Snapshot: Oklahoma
State

Record: 13-15, 6-9 Big 12

Ranking: NR

Streak: Lost 1

Last 5 / Last 10: 2-3 / 4-6

at Home: 10-3

Last Game: lost to Oklahoma (A), 77-64 (Wed.)

Head Coach: Travis Ford (Kentucky '94)

Record: 268-198 (15th year)

at OSU: 78-52 (fourth year)

vs. Texas A&M: 2-5

Oklahoma State
Probable Starters (based on previous
game)

No. Name Pos.
Ht. Wt. Cl.
PPG RPG APG
GP / Min

2 Le'Bryan Nash F
6-7 230 Fr.
13.3 5.0 1.5
28 / 30.1

4 Brian
Williams G 6-5
205 RFr. 8.2
3.0 0.7 27 / 25.9

12 Keiton Page G
5-9 165 Sr.
16.2 1.7 2.1
27 / 35.1

20 Michael
Cobbins F 6-8
220 RFr. 5.5
5.6 1.6b 28 / 26.2

22 Markel Brown G
6-3 190 So.
10.6 5.3 2.2
28 / 30.4

Series History:
OSU leads, 30-17

A&M streak: Won 4

In
Stillwater: Oklahoma State leads, 13-4

At
Gallagher-Iba Arena: Oklahoma State
leads, 13-3

In College
Station: Oklahoma State leads, 12-11

At Reed
Arena: series tied, 7-7

At Neutral
Sites: Oklahoma State leads, 5-2

At Big 12
Tournament: Oklahoma State leads,
1-0

Longest
A&M Win Streak: 5 games

Longest
Oklahoma State Win Streak: 11
games

Largest
A&M Win: 23 (71-48, 01/12/11)

Largest OSU
Win: 35 (100-65, 01/03/98)

Billy
Kennedy vs. Oklahoma State: 1-2

Travis Ford
vs. A&M: 2-5

the series
dates back to the 1917-18 season ... Saturday's game will mark the 48th between
the schools, making it the 10th most played rivalry in A&M history.

A&M has
won in 3 of its last 5 trips to Gallagher-Iba Arena ... prior to 2007, the
Aggies were winless inside GIA ... last year, A&M battled its way to a
67-66 victory.

Texas
A&M is looking for its fifth straight win over the Cowboys, which would
match a school record ... the Aggies won 5 straight over then Oklahoma A&M
from 1918-24.

The Aggies
recorded a 76-61 win last month at Reed Arena ... Elston Turner scored 23 in
the game, while walk-on guard Alex Baird played 21 minutes of turnover-free
basketball-nearly quadrupling his career minutes total.

Billy
Kennedy's two previous meetings with OSU came in the 2005 NCAA First Round,
while at Southeastern Louisiana, and in the final round of the 76 Classic last
fall while at Murray State.

Last 10 Meetings:

Date AM/Op Rk Site Score

- complete series history can be found in media fact book -

2007 M9 7 /- Oklahoma
City L 56-57

2008 J26 16/- Stillwater W 59-56

2008 F16 16/- College Station L 54-59

2009 J10 Stillwater L 61-72

2009 J31 College
Station W 76-64

2010 J27 Stillwater L 69-76

2010 M3 23/- College Station W 76-61

2011 J12 13/- College Station W 71-48

2011 F19 17/- Stillwater W 67-66

2012 J28 College
Station W 76-61

Tale of the Tape

A&M OSU

61.3 points/game 67.4

60.4 opp.
points/game 68.2

+0.9 scoring margin -0.2

.436 field goal % .418

.397 opp. field
goal % .417

.333 3-point % .319

34.6 rebounds 33.0

+1.9 rebound margin +0.9

12.1 assists 10.8

13.7 turnovers 12.1

5.6 steals 6.4

2.3 blocks 4.6

Quick Hits

The Aggies
lead the Big 12 in two defensive categories (through Feb. 24): scoring defense
and 3-point FG% defense; A&M ranks third in defensive rebound percentage
and field-goal percentage defense.

Texas
A&M held No. 4 Kansas to 38.9 percent shooting on Wednesday, the Jayhawks'
lowest output in Big 12 play this year and second lowest overall (No. 2
Kentucky held KU to 33.9%) ... KU also was held to 22.2 percent from behind the
arc (4-of-18) ... Kansas has shot worse than that from long range just twice
this year (20.0% vs A&M, 1/23; 21.1% at OU, 1/7).

The Aggie
defense has competed hard against the best offenses the league have to offer in
Missouri, Kansas and Baylor ... A&M has held all three teams below their
season field-goal percentages and well below their season point averages:

Aggie defense vs Big 12's top offenses

Opponent FG%
(NCAA Rk) FG% vs A&M PPG (NCAA Rk) PPG
vs A&M

Missouri 49.8
( 2) 47.7 79.5 (
7) 70.5

Kansas 48.3
(16) 40.6 74.7 (39) 65.0

Baylor 47.5 (25) 39.4 74.6
(43) 62.0

COMBINED 48.5 42.3 76.3 65.8

A&M
fell behind Kansas by as many as 21 points Wednesday (47-26, 13:25 left in
game) and trailed KU by 18 (55-37) with 6:58 to go ... as the Aggies have done
all season, they showed no quit and went on a 16-2 run to make the score 57-53
with just over 2 minutes to go, but Kansas was able to hang on for the victory.

despite
coming up short in games against Baylor, Texas, Missouri and Kansas, the Aggies
faced large second-half deficits yet battled back into each game ... a look at
A&M's second-half rallies in February:

The Aggies'
last 4 home losses have come by an average of 5.5 points, to No. 6 Baylor,
Texas, No. 3 Missouri and No. 4 KU.

A&M has
played five top-5 opponents this year, a new school record ... all have come in
Big 12 play, also a school record ... the Aggies' last two games have come
against Missouri (No. 3) and Kansas (No. 4), the first time in school history
the Aggies have played two straight against top-5 foes.

Seven of
A&M's losses this year have come to teams currently ranked in the top 13
nationally, five of which have come away from home (#3 Missouri (twice), #4
Kansas (twice), #11 Florida, #13 Baylor [twice]).

The Aggies'
conference road losses this year have come to Baylor, Texas, Missouri, Kansas,
Kansas State and Iowa State, squads that have combined to go 81-12 at home.

The Aggies
have won 53 Big 12 games since the start of the 2007 league season ... prior to
that, A&M had totaled only 43 victories in the first 10 years of Big 12
play (53-40 since 2006, 43-116 from 1997-2006).

A&M has
finished .500 or better in Big 12 play in each of the past 7 years, one of just
3 teams to do so (Kansas, Texas).

A&M is
one of just 12 schools that have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 6
seasons (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Michigan State, Pittsburgh,
Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Villanova, Wisconsin, Xavier).

Texas
A&M is one of only 8 schools in the entire country that have won 24 or more
games in each of the last 5 seasons (Butler, BYU, Kansas, Memphis, Pittsburgh,
Texas A&M, VCU, Xavier).

Scouting Oklahoma
State

Oklahoma
State is 13-15 on the year and 6-9 in Big 12 play ... the Cowboys have lost
four of their last six games, but the two wins have been over Iowa State and
Texas ... OSU is 10-3 at home this year and has won five of seven league
contests at Gallagher-Iba Arena ... the Cowboys enter the game off a 77-64 loss
to rival Oklahoma on Wednesday night in Norman.

The Cowboys
are led by senior G Keiton Page (16.2 ppg), who is second in the Big 12 in
scoring in league games (18.2/game) ... the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week,
Page is averaging 30.7 points in his last three games, including a 29-point
effort against the Sooners ... two other Cowboys, Le'Bryan Nash (13.3 ppg) and
Markel Brown (10.6 ppg) average 10-plus points ... Michael Cobbins leads OSU in
rebounds (5.6/game) and blocks (45).

Travis Ford
(Kentucky '94) is in his fourth season at Oklahoma State with a record of 78-52
... in his 15th season as a head coach, Ford has 268 career victories.

Sidebars

Aggie
associate head coach Glynn Cyprien spent four seasons with Eddie Sutton at
Oklahoma State (2000-04), helping lead the Cowboys to 97 wins and four straight
NCAA Tournaments, including a trip to the 2004 Final Four in San Antonio.

A&M
assistant Kyle Keller spent nine seasons at OSU (1999-2008) on the staffs of
Eddie and Shawn Sutton ... he was on the Cowboys' staff for an Elite Eight run
in 2000 and a trip to the Final Four in 2004.

Aggie Trends

The Aggies
have allowed just one Big 12 opponent to score more points than its season
average (Oklahoma, who needed OT to do so).

A&M is
shooting 38 percent from 3-point range over its last 10 games (averaging 6.0
threes per game) ... the Aggies rank fourth in league games in 3-point field
goals (5.7/game).

Texas
A&M's starting rotation has seen lots of action in conference play ... in
Big 12 games, A&M starters are averaging 29.0 minutes a game (after
averaging 25 a game in non-conference play) ... all five starters played at
least 30 minutes against Texas (Jan. 11), the first time that's happened on an
Aggie team since March 2007 (Big 12 quarterfinal vs Oklahoma State).

A&M has
seen its free-throw percentage take a slight up-turn in Big 12 play ... the
Aggies shot 61.6 percent from the line in non-conference play, but has shot
67.5 percent in Big 12 action.

A&M is
shooting 71 percent from the line in the second half of Big 12 games ... the
Aggies have shot just 59.7 percent in the first half.

The Aggies
are 12-0 this year when leading with 5 minutes to play and 11-3 this year when
leading at halftime (losses at Kansas, at K-State, home Texas).

A&M is
11-3 when holding opponents under 40 percent from the field (losses to Baylor,
Baylor and Kansas).

The Aggies
have held 11 of their opponents under 60 points and are unbeaten in those
games.

A&M has
held 8 opponents under 35 percent shooting (8-0).

The Aggies
are 9-2 this year when shooting more free throws than their opponent (loss to
Texas, at Iowa State) and 10-1 when out-rebounding them (loss is to Texas).

A&M has
already bested last year's total for blocks, and did so in just 20 games ...
the Aggies are averaging 2.3 blocks per game this year (63 blocks), up from
last year's average of 1.5 (51 in 33 games).

The Aggies
have won 4 of their last 5 overtime games dating back to last season.

A&M has
won nearly 70 percent of its games since the start of the 2006-07 season
(137-59, .699) ... the Aggies are 179-77 (.699) since the start of the '04-05
campaign.

Player Notables

Elston Turner

has slid
over and started at the point in each of the last 7 games (36.8 min/gm) for the
injured Dash Harris.

in the top
10 of the Big 12 rankings in three categories (points, minutes, 3-point field
goals) this season.

became the
first Aggie since Acie Law in 2007 to score 20-plus in three straight Big 12
games (23 vs OU - 1/21, 24 at KU - 1/23, 23 vs OSU - 1/28).

averaging
15.1 points per game in Big 12 play, eighth-best in the league ... scored 10+
points in 12 of 15 league games.

In 7 games
against ranked opponents (all ranked 13th or higher), is averaging 14.7 points,
4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

has scored
10-plus points in 20 games this year ... he did so just 9 times in 66 games in
two seasons at Washington.

Naji Hibbert

has hit 57
percent of his 3-point shots (8-of-14) over last 5 games.

minutes
have sharply increased over his last 6 games, averaging 27.7 per game over that
span ... 6.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.7 ast in his last 6 games ... poured in a
season-high 14 against Kansas State (2/4).

shooting
40% from floor and 46% from 3-point range overall in Big 12 play ... shot 31%
from field and 14% from beyond the arc in non-conference action.

David Loubeau

has hit
double figures in 8 of last 11 games.

became only
the 16th player in school history this year to score 1,000 career points and
grab 500 career rebounds ... ranks 23rd all-time in scoring (1,154 points) and
needs 8 points to become one of the top 20 most prolific scorers in school
history ... ranks 18th all-time in rebounds (556).

has played
in 128 career games, seventh all-time in program history.

Daniel Alexander

nice job on
the court in Khris Middleton's absence over last several weeks ... over a
6-game span, averaged 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds and shot 50 percent from the
floor ... while in the starting rotation for 4 games, averaged 30.8 minutes.

set career
highs in consecutive games this month, scoring 12 against Baylor (2/1) after
posting 11 against Oklahoma State (1/28) on 5-of-6 shooting.

Keith Davis

has started
11 of A&M's Big 12 games at the "5" position ... averaging 19.8
minutes in league play.

Ray Turner

averaging
7.0 points and 4.5 rebounds off the bench in Big 12 play (13 games) ...
averaging 11.6 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds at home (17 games).

named to
the Academic All-Big 12 second team.

has scored
10-plus points in 14 games this year ... the Aggies are 9-5 in those contests.

has posted
four double-doubles-the first of his career-including a 13-point, 12-rebound
effort against Iowa State (1/7) and a
13-point, 11-board game against Baylor (2/1)... his 15 boards vs Arkansas Tech
(12/29) were a career high and the most by an Aggie in a game since March 2010.

played a
career-high 32 minutes in win at Texas Tech (2/14) ... scored 9 points and
matched a season high with 5 rebounds while dishing out a team-best 3 assists.

strong 31
minutes of play against OSU (1/28) after getting the starting nod ... scored 8
points on 4-of-6 shooting, a personal best in Big 12 play ... primary focus was
limiting Cowboys' guard Keiton Page (entered 14.7 ppg), and held him to 2-of-13
from the floor and 9 total points.

averaging
7.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists in Big 12 play ... matched a career
high with 14 in win over OU (1/21).

leads the
team in assists (4.3/game), steals (1.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4).

moved into
the top 10 in school history in career assists and steals in win over Texas
Tech (Jan. 14) ... ranks ninth in both categories (362 assists, 133 steals) ...
he is one of only 8 players in A&M history to record 300 assists and 100
steals (list on page 9).

Khris Middleton

got the
starting nod in the last two games, against No. 3 Missouri (2/18) and No. 4
Kansas (2/22) ... averaged 19 points and 4.5 rebounds and shot at 52 percent
clip ... scored 23 (8-14 FG) with 5 boards against the Jayhawks on Wednesday.

picked up
first double-double of career at Texas (1/11), 19 pts, 10 rebs ... 10 boards
were a career high.

Zach Kinsley

hard work
in practice earned him first start of A&M career vs No. 3 Missouri (2/18)
... played a season-high 31 minutes and scored 5 points.

Alex Baird

reserve
senior walk-on point guard played 21 minutes against OSU (1/28) in lieu of
injured Dash Harris, dishing out 3 assists, posting 0 turnovers and grabbing 4
rebounds ... took the floor against the Cowboys with a total of 6 career
minutes of action in 8 games played.

The Aggies
are in the midst of the 100th season of basketball at Texas A&M University
... the first team was fielded for the 1912-13 campaign.

The
inaugural team was coached by F.D. Steger and won its first ever game (date
unknown) over Marlin (Texas) High School, 78-8 ... the first
"collegiate" opponent for the program was later that season with a
pair of games against Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State
University).

This Week in
History

FEB. 20,
1973: Randy Knowles goes 20-of-30 from
the field (42 points) in a 108-82 win over Arkansas.

FEB. 24,
2009: Josh Carter drains a 3-pointer at
the buzzer to give the Aggies a 57-55 win over Nebraska in Lincoln, a shot that
sparked A&M's late-season run to the NCAA Tournament.